Roller-towel.



H. 0. WHEELER.

' ROLLER TOWEL. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 2a, 1908.

' 980,720. Patented Jan 3,1911.

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UNTTED TATE @FFEQE.

HARVEY C. WHEELER, 036 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

ROLLER-TO\VEL.

0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARVEY C. lVI-IEELER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Boston, in the county of Suf folk and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Roller-Towels, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is the construction of a roller towel, and supports therefor, capable of hygienic and convenient use by several individuals, as in an oliice occupied by more than one person.

To this end, my invention consi...s. first, in means whereby an elongated roller towel can have certain individualized sections thereof readily brought into sight, and, second, in means for normally retaining the towel in a substantially taut and neat condition, but allowing it to be easily drawn out into a sufficiently slack shape for convenient use.

Referring to the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a side sectional elevation of a towel and support made in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the towel unsupported. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of the tension roller employed for keeping the towel taut. Fig. 4 is a vertical section through XX in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of my roller-locking means.

The towel l is of the roller form, that is an endless length of fabric, and is separated into a plurality of sections, shown as six in Fig. 2, each carrying some designating character, as the letters A, B, C and F. These sections 2 are separated from one another by a line 3 of some contrasting color, either woven, stitched, embroidered and otherwise marked thereon; with each section provided with two designating characters, one near each separating line 3, in order that there may be the least possible delay in finding any designated section.

This towel being very long, I prefer to provide therefor several supporting rollers, as the six shown in Fig. 1, and to keep the fabric taut by the tension roller 4 lying in the bight of the towel. The upper bracket 5 is given four of said six rollers, while the lower bracket 6 is provided with the other two.

The central two rollers 7 of the upper four are made non-removable, while all the others are made removable, as bymeans of the slots Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed. September 28, 1908.

Patented Jan. 3, 1911.

Serial No. 455,111.

8 reaching to their pivot pins 9, as shown in Figs. 1 and 4. The two uppermost removable rollers 10 require no means for retaining them in position, inasmuch as gravitation and the pull of the towel are suilicient for the purpose. For the two lowermost rollers 11, however, some form of removable lock is needed in order to prevent their being drawn up and out of place by the pull of the towel. Such lock may consist of the long pins 12 penetrating the brackets immediately over the pivots or trunnions 9 of the rollers, as indicated in Fig. l. withdrawing these pins, said rollers can be then removed for the insertion of the towel. For such insertion, the upper towels 10 are removed and the towel laid upon the stationary rollers T with a pendent fold at each side thereof. The two lowermost rollers 11 are then removed and immediately replaced. each within one of said folds. The locking pins 12 being returned, the tension roller t is inserted within a fold 1% which has been tuck-ed down between the rollers; and then the two rollers 10 are introduced beneath the upper part of the towel into their seats or bearings in the upper brackets.

The roller fl: being made sufiiciently heavy in any suitable manner, preferably by having itcomposed of cast metal, its weight will tighten the entire length of the towel; thereby rendering the same neat in appearance, and causing the fabric to dry without: wrinkles, after its frequent wettings as used. Moreover, by thus holding the towel taut, the difierent stretches thereof will be out of contact with each other, and consequently better exposed to .the circulation of air; thus causing quicker drying thereof.

When a person wishes to use this towel, he pulls up or down upon the outermost stretch thereof until his section of the samecomes into view. For instance, if the letter A is the one exposed when such person comes to the towel, and his section is the one lettered C, he will draw down upon the front stretch until the C-section is reached. He will then pull his section out toward him as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1, thus taking up some of the slack in the middle fold 14- and elevating the tension roller 4 as shown in dotted lines. By thus having the towel more freely in hand, he can use it much more conveniently, wiping his face or even neck without hindrance. lVhen through with the towel, he drops it, and the tension roller restores the parts to their normal positions.

In actual construction, it is unnecessary to have the brackets project so far out into the room as represented in Fig. 1, the drawings being somewhat exaggerated for the sake of clearness.

I prefer to form the tension roller 1 hollow, as shown in Fig. 3, providing the same with a removable stopper 15 and numerous minute outlets 1G, and filling the same with some form of perfun'iery or antiseptic, or both, which will slowly percolate through said outlets into the towel, and so render the same more hygienic and agreeable to use.

This arrangement of towel is of value even where it is to be used by but a single person. In such case, he bears in mind that some one section thereof, as A, is not to be wiped upon, but is to be returned to the front after every period of utilization of the other sections. In this way there is al ways a fresh surface of the towel exposed to view. He can also apportion the other towel-sections among different days of the week, and so have a fresh one for nearly every day. its by beginning with the A- section on Monday, and taking the Beection on Tuesday, and so on through the six sections illustrated, he can have a fresh section for each day of the week.

If the towel is in an office containing less persons than the number of towel-sections, one such section can in the same way be not used and always returned to the front, and so the appearance of the towel continues tidy throughout the week.

Instead of the pins 12 above described, I prefer to lock the rollers 11 in place in the following way: Each bracket 6 is made in two sections, the top one 19 of which is hinged to the lower; the line of cleavage between said sections being through the pivot-holes-of bearings 18 of said rollers. By throwing said top-sections 19 to one side, as illustrated in Fig. 5, said rollers can be readily removed, while by turning the top-sections back down upon the others, and fastening them in place by means of a suitable lock 20, the rollers are made secure against loss. Although I have described both brackets as thus made hinged and capable of locking, it is sufficient to have one alone thus formed, inasmuch as the rollers can be easily withdrawn from the bearingholes in the one-piece bracket after the opposite bracket has been unhinged. I frequently, also, reverse the brackets 6 so that the top-section of each will be the fixed member, and the under one the hinged one. By this arrangement, the pull of the tension roller draws the rollers 11 up into the bearings in the fixed bracket-member.

What I claim as my invention and for which I desire Letters Patent is as follows, to wit A roller towel comprising an endless towel, four rollers located in substantially the same horizontal plane, the two outermost rollers being removable, two rollers removably supported a suitable distance below the first-named rollers, locking means for normally locking said two rollers in place, said towel being located about said rollers to leave a bight thereof depending between the two inner rollers of the four first-named ones, and a heavy roller supported in said bight and free to rise into contact with the upper rollers.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing invention, I have hereunto set my hand this 24th day of September, 1908.

HARVEY C. WHEELER lVitnesses A. B. UPI-1AM, M. E. Down. 

